Your projections should be realistic. Setting a goal of $1 trillion in new sales won’t do you any favors.

3. Goals

Communicators often struggle to set clear, cohesive goals. Home in on a handful of measurable, achievable goals. For instance, how will you reach your objective of increasing conversions? Work backward from the finish line:

You must get input from your client or your executive team to complete this step. What, exactly, do your leaders hope to achieve? You cannot create change in the organization unless you know where the business is going and how you can help it get there.

6. Executive summary

Create a one-page recap of everything in your plan. It should include:

Mission

Vision

Core values

Fiscal year business goals

Differentiators

Key messages

List of communications tactics

Any unresolved issues or challenges that came up in the initial planning meetings

A list of things you would like to do, if resources become available

7. Key challenges

What are your biggest obstacles? It could be anything from a lazy salesperson to a commoditized business. Perhaps your organization’s reputation is less than stellar, or maybe your chief competitor has a stranglehold on a market you covet.

Whatever it is, create a description of the products or services you want to market, and establish which challenges you might face in doing so. List every obstacle you foresee.

8. Situation analysis

This clarifies key industry metrics.

One client does this quarterly. He includes what’s going on economically, from a global perspective, as well as industry metrics.